Richard Sherman expects Christian McCaffrey to play significant role in 49ers return

Nov 7, 2024, 11:37 AM

INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 30: Christian McCaffrey #23 of the San Francisco 49ers celebrates after a game against the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium on October 30, 2022 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

BY AMILIANO FRAGOSO

San Francisco 49ers Beat Writer

All signs continue to point towards Christian McCaffrey returning for the 49ers this weekend, with some speculating that he could be in for a major workload Week 10.

That’s what former 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman is hearing from the 49ers ahead of Sunday. On the latest episode of The Richard Sherman Podcast, the former CB gave an update on the star running back this week, hinting at a massive role upon CMC’s return.

Additionally, Sherman mentioned that McCaffrey has felt good with his achilles for weeks now, even noticing that he could have played Week 8 against the Dallas Cowboys. However, the 49ers wanted to be cautious with its’ star RB, giving him the bye week to be extra prepared.

“I heard it from the horse’s mouth,” Sherman said about McCaffrey’s status. “He feels really good, and he felt like he could have probably played last week, but they wanted to be overly cautious and just give him more weeks of practice and more time to work that thing out to feel comfortable, and feel confident, and he does.”

#49ers Christian McCaffrey tells Richard Sherman he likely could have played vs Dallas but was held out to be overly cautious

Sherman: “All signs point to him playing and probably a significant role in this game (vs Bucs)” pic.twitter.com/0aEgOUVFC1

— 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙎𝙁𝙉𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙨 (@TheSFNiners) November 7, 2024

While the player may have bee confident in his body, the 49ers wanted to make sure.

San Francisco put Christian McCaffrey to the test during the team’s week off, having him undergo several simulated practices to get his mind and body up to speed. After emerging through that unscathed, CMC’s practice window to come off injured reserve was officially opened Monday. Should he remain intact into the weekend, there is a realistic chance he’ll get a larger share of the touches out of the backfield.

“All signs point to him playing, and probably a significant role in this game,” Sherman added.

But, the 49ers will remain cautious with their star player.

After experiencing major setbacks with his achilles the first two weeks of the regular season, he was forced to be shut down until recently. The 49ers won’t want a re-aggravation to occur, especially with backups Jordan Mason and Isaac Guerendo playing well.

But as long as Christian feels like Christian, he will be back in the lineup for Week 10 in Tampa.

“That he’s just Christian McCaffrey and he’s not hurting,” coach Kyle Shanahan said Wednesday. “As long as everything goes well, it has in the rehab, so just as long as his achilles doesn’t get sore and have setbacks each day with practice. Usually, if you get that in practice, that means it’s going to be worse in the game. So hopefully you can string together three days in a row and not have any [setbacks].”

More on Christian McCaffrey

Christian McCaffrey, 28, has been an offensive juggernaut since joining the 49ers midway through the 2022 season. The Colorado native has amassed nearly 4,000 scrimmage yards and 39 touchdowns (regular season and playoffs) in 33 games played in Red & Gold. He has also throw for a score as well, making him the complete package in Shanahan’s offense.